Ulladulla to Narooma Australia

I enjoyed my respite in Ulladulla while I waited for the rain to let up. The hostel owners were very nice people and ran a good clean place. I had it to myself for two out of the four nights I was there.

I finally left on a bright sunny early morning from the hostel. No rain in the forecast for 4 or 5 days but cold temps just below freezing are forecast.

The ride was rolling hills all day long. I rode about 65 miles to get to Narooma so about half of that was spinning uphill after hill after hill. There was no flat road all day. The hills are all between 4 and 6 percent grades so it was a workout. Reminded me of West Texas a little bit only it wasn’t 110 degrees it was 32 degrees.

I took a scenic drive turnoff not knowing what to expect. So far in Australia every scenic drive I have taken has been more or less a scam to get cars to drive through and hopefully stop at some of the smaller towns to give them some business with nothing scenic about the detour. But I am glad I took this one. It led me to a short bike trail that ran right along a beautiful coastline for 7 kilometers. I enjoyed the trail and the scenic views.

The trail led me right to a campground in Narooma where I pitched my tent for the night. Sure enjoyed the shower there.

Huskisson Bay to Ulladulla

I enjoyed my night in the hotel. My neighbors were a couple of women from Toronto and I enjoyed their company. I never left the hotel since it was raining. In the morning it was clear so I took off at sunrise. I wanted to ride to Batemans Bay today. The road was all hills with a mix of small ones or long ones with easy grades to big ones with steep grades. It was a harder ride than I expected. I had no problems on the ride. There was a bike trail along the road for the first few miles then plenty of room on the shoulder for my bike except for a few short stretches where the road was narrow with no shoulder at all. The cars and trucks all played well and there were no problems even on the narrow stretches.

I was sweating profusely after only a few minutes riding today. The hills kept me sweating all day. I kept stripping off clothes until all I had on was a thin long sleeved T-shirt and I was still drenched in sweat. When I stopped for lunch the woman at the cafe asked me if I got caught in rain or fell in some water. I laughed at that cause that is what I felt like doing at that moment to cool down. My lunch was a veggie wrap with a fresh juice of apple, orange and mixed berries. Good lunch and healthy.

I did see a few mobs of kangaroos today but they were too far away for good pics. I also spotted a snake in the bush along the road but before I could get my camera out it disappeared into the bush. With 8 out of 10 of the most dangerous snakes in the world including the taipan which is number 1, I am not going to go rooting around looking for the snakes here.

When I arrived at Ulladulla I decided to stop for the day. It is another 30 miles to Batemans Bay and I expect to get stuck there for a number of days while I wait out some bad weather in the forecast. It is forecast to be clear in the morning tomorrow then rain for several days with thundershowers and cold temps which could cause hail storms. Not my favorite riding weather...Not much for pics today

Wollongong to Huskisson Beach Australia

Today I left the hostel early hoping to beat the rain that was in the forecast. The ride was going quickly with not much to see. The main road runs about 10 kilometers or 6 miles inland and to get to the coastal towns you have to ride in and then back out again. I wanted to make it to Ulladulla or maybe even Batemans Bay which would have been a long day. The clouds started to build so I turned off the main road and headed to the coast to find a campground. I stopped at Huskisson Beach and looked around for a place to stay. Nothing cheap in town. I went down the road a little bit and it started to rain harder and harder on me. I am tired of riding in rain so I stopped and checked into one of the places along the beach that I was told was the least expensive one in the area. It cost me $100 Australian or $80 American. I can't afford to be spending that much on a daily basis. I like the backpacker places not just because they are cheap but because they are more fun and social also.

I piled up the miles today and it feels good to ride hard again after so many interruptions to my raiding lately. I am not complaining about the interruptions because I did all of them of my own free will. I just missed my riding is all I am saying. Hello, my name is paparoach and I am addicted to riding.

Not many things along the main road to take pics of and right now it is raining so I am just sitting in my room catching up with the net instead of being out enjoying this nice little slice of Australia. A few birds did stop in to say hello while I was eating dinner. I hope the rain lets up so I can get further down the coast to a cheaper area to stay in. Otherwise, pretty soon I will be selling my body to stay alive until I fly back to the US. Such is the life of a wandering biker.

Sydney to Wollongong Australia

I left the hotel fairly early this morning and headed through Sydney toward Wollongong. Getting out of the busy commuter traffic between downtown and the airport was intense riding as I had to be extra careful with such heavy traffic. I found my way despite many of the key intersections where I needed to turn did not have street signs with names on them. Named intersections are very hit and miss here. I don't know if the signs get stolen or they never put them up but either way it is irritating.

Once I past the airport I rode a bike trail for a while before jumping back on the main road. I took a longer road through a park expecting to find ocean vistas but all it did was make my ride longer and did not have a single decent view for all my extra effort. I ended up back on the main road anyway. I did get a good view at Bld Mountain Lookout. There were a lot of hang gliders sitting around with all their gear moaning that there was not enough wind to fly. Maybe no wind to fly but good view looking south toward Wollongong. After a couple pics and a quick chat with some motorcycle bikers that stopped me to talk, I hit the road again. The views the rest of the way into Wollongong were great. There was even a smooth flat bike trail that ran right along the beach all the way into Wollongong. I enjoyed that ride even though I had to dodge a lot of dog walkers and stuff.

Once in town I checked into a backpackers hostel because rain is predicted. There is five days of rain in the forecast. So much for me riding. I did enjoy all the birds including budgies, lorikeets, parrots and tons of very loud cockatoos which were everywhere and screamed loudly at me as I rode past them all day. Here are some pics

Packed up for the Road to Wollongong in the Morning

I have enjoyed my little respite in Sydney for the last four days. I rode around town and checked out how much the city has changed since my last visit. I drank too many pints of craft brews. I had a couple pints down at the Rocks in a place called the Armory and soon after I left the entire ceiling of the place caved in. Glad I did not order that third pint there. Several people suffered minor injuries in the event. I ended up going to several other brew pubs and ended up at Kings Cross Hotel where I had my last few pints before stumbling back to my hotel. I do not normally drink that much. The beers were all good and I knew I had nothing to do the next day so no harm in over indulging on a rare instance like this.

Today I did laundry and repacked my bike bags. I am going to carry way less stuff with me now. I will leave the extra junk here at this hotel until I get back to Sydney later.

There is one minor problem I am having for the last few days, my pain levels have been way too high and my sleep has been almost none at all. I am not sure if it is still left from the travel to get here or if it is from the cold wet weather here that is making my pain higher. My hope is that the bike riding tomorrow will help me get the pain back under control. I really hate my constant pain problems. But I am happy that I discovered bike riding helps to relieve or at least helps me to control the pain somewhat. The worst problem is the depression that goes along with the high pain. It is like a switch gets thrown and the pain and depression come as an evil team.

Oh well such is life, I will know when I get out of bed after tomorrow's ride if the bike ride helped me or not. I hope the weather is good.